Movable platform for push-button elevators



A. Cr ROTHENBERG. MOVABLE PLATFORM FOR PUSH BUTTON ELEVATORS.

APPLICATION FILED "M21. 1920.

1,382,243. Patented June 21, 1921.

2 SHEETS+SNEET A. C. ROTHENBERG.

MOVABLE PLATFORM FOR PUSH BUTTON ELEVATORS.

APPLICATION FILED MAYZT, I920.

Patented June 21, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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C, Snow viva F3331 abtozmm WW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

= Ana-EUR ENBERG, OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY. MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

MOVABLE PLATFORM FOR PUSH-BUTTON ELEVATORS.

Application filed May 27,

To all whom it may concern:

[Be it known that I, ARTHUR C. Ro'rnnnnnncg'acitizen of the United States of America, residing in St. Louis county in the county of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have in vented a new and useful Improvement in Movable'Platforms for Push-Button Elevators; bf'vvhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in push-buttonsoperated electric elevators; and the"objects of=my invention are: first, to en'ablea per'sf'on in' abuilding installed with alpush button-operated elevator, to obtain control of the car at any floor, when there is nobody in the car, all the doors on the eleva'tO r'shaft closed, and the gate in the car left open by the last passenger leaving the can; second, to pr'eventthe car from being put iiv'mofion by a person in the car, without fall thf door sf on the elevator shaft and the 'gate'in'thecar closed; third. to transmitthe motio ii of'aiiy particular point of a movable platform over the entire platform fourth. to e lim'inateiafeeling of insecurity to a passengenwheiijstepping on a movable platform.

.I attain, these objects by the mechanism lil lu s tratedinthe accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatical illustration of asingle pushbutton elevator and Figs. 2 and 3.are detailed views of a movable platter-m. in the car.

f S milar letters and numerals refer to similarparts throughout the several drawings.

A'pus'h button-operated elevator without a rcg11lan operator on duty inthe car like in apartment houses for instance. has hitherto caused considerable inconvenience, when the last passenger le ftthe car and forgot to close the gate in the car. The doors on the elevator I shaft in those instances are generally supplied with self closing devices. and as the 4 electric controlling apparatus was hitherto inoperative when the gate inthe car and the contact operated by thatgate were not closed, people desiring to make use of the elevator would first have toloca te the carat whatever floor it stopped last and close the gate. This inconvenience I eliminate by leaving out a sect onof the regular platform in the car,

- immediately in front of the doorv and iny stalling a movable section instead.

; Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, 10

designates the regular carplatfornnll the movable sec Specification of Letters Patent. Pate t d J 21 1921 1920. Serial No. 384,519.

tion of the platform, made up of sheet steel reinforced with the angle irons 12, to. fit the opening left in the platform 10. At each corner of the movable platform,=l1, a pin, 13, s fastened by means of the casting,.14, which is bolted to the platform, 11. The castings 14 and p ns 13 are threaded for adjustment. The pins 13 pass through the brackets 15 which act as guides for the'pins 13 a-nd are bolted to the regular platform 10. a

Brackets 15 also support shafts 16 by means of the trunnion screws 38.: Each end of the shafts 16 is tapered, hardened and ground to fit the bearing part of the trunnion screws 38, so as to reduce the friction. The levers 17 are pinned on shafts 16. When a person steps on the movable platform 11 motion 18 transmitted to the levers 17 through pins l3-and the sockets 18 on the levers17. This travel is limited to about by the space between the leatherwashers 19 and finished surface on casting 14. .-Betwe'en the pins 13 and sockets l8 on'leversrl7, a ball bear1ng20 is used to reduce friction; al The levers 17 are connected-in the center with the links 21 so that movement at any point of the platform llis transmitt'ed over the entire platform 11. An electric contact 22 is mounted on a stationar bracket 23 and 1S operated by one pair of evers 17 and 'in connection with the other pair of levers 171s placed a weight lever 24, which is pivoted on the bracket 25, the latter being fastened on the stationary angle iron 26. One end of this weight lever 24 is connected to the'said pair of levers 17 by means of a link 27 and on the other end is the weight 28 wh ich'serves to raise the movable platform 11 when a passenper in the car steps off same' "air dash pot 29 is connected'with the weighted lever 24: to take care of momentum of weight 28 and lever 24 and so preventsanie from strikin; the under side of the movable platform,11. i a

The movable platform 11 is so placed,- that a persoh entering the car will step upou'it and will have to stand there while pushing the "button for operating the elevator. Hitherto, a passenger, when ste ping upon a movable platform, had afee in '-''of insecurity, caused by the wabbling o the movable platform or too much or too quick descendingof the movable platform. I elimihate that feeling ofinsecurity'es can be seen the motion of theplatform retarded by the dash-pot 29. With these arrangements, it is obvious that practically no wabblmgbfuthe platform is possible and as the ,vertical mo tion of the platform is limited to about and at the end of the motion the platform rests upon theleather washers 19, which act at the same time asv shock absorbers, the movement of the platform is practically not felt by any person stepping upon the movable platform I a a Referring now to Fig. 1, which represents a dia ammatical illustrationof a complete pushutton elevator, B5B and B' -are the push-buttons in the car, (JOIIBSPOIlCllDgiO the number of theafloors; H13, H13 and H13 are the Qbuttons locatedinthe hallqon each individual-floor; SB is the stop button in the car; (l is'the'; elevator car; B the hoisting cables; .D the counterweight; 30 is-the (111V- i sheave; 31 is the brake magnet; Bl 151118 hoistingmotor; G is the governor; F is the floor controller, which is connected to some slow'mo'vi as art of the hoisting'apparatus; E, fizanc l E -are' the doors in the elevator shaft which when shut, close the contacts,

D ,-'D"and' D n-respectively. The doors in the elevator shafts are hanging onrails, which are slightly tilted at one end,-so as to cause the. doors to be self closing. The doors are locked when thecar is in motion by the locks L, L and L These locks close by gravity and arereleased, when the car is approaching the landing, and the operating circuit is interrupted at the floor controller F, and the cam magnet K has released its plunger' and :caused the cam 32 to drop back to its position, as shown, and engaged the roller of the door lock,thereby-unlocking the door.

L and LL are the limit switches in the hatchway; H is the main line switch; N and O are the reversing switches for the hoisting motor M: P is the accelerating switch which short circuits gradually the starting resistance V; T is the stopping resistance; R is the car holding magnet; S the non-interfcr ence magnet; U. U and U are the floor magnets: 33 and 34 are fuses in the operating circuit; and 35 is the gate contact which is closed, when the collapsible gate in the car is shut.

I. think it is unnecessary to explain the operation of the controlling apparatus as the latter is awell known system of push-button control. It should, however, be noticed, that the contact 35 on the collapsible gateand the contact 22 under the movableplatform are in parallel and that the current for the entire operating circuit, coming from the positive fuse 34, has to pass through the door I operating circuit.

contacts E E and 5E, and: througheither one orboth the gate contact35 or the contact 22 under the movable platform. Itis obviousthat all the doors should be closed and either the gate contact 35 or the contact under the movable platform 11 closed, before thecontrolling apparatus can get; inoperation and start the car in motion.

The action of my invention is as follows: A person entering the car has to step on the movable platform 11, which descends about L andthrough the levers 17interruptsthe operatingcircuit through the contact 22 under thc'movable platform 11. 'In order to gctthecar in operation, thepassenger must rlosc the collapsible gate, which cl osesrthe contact 35 to complete the operating circuit. When leaving the car, the weight 28 returns the movable platform 11' to its normal positlon and closes the contact 22 under the plat.- form 11, therebvcompleting the operating circuit and eliminating thenecessity 0f closing thccar-grate. In view of thisoperation, a passenger at any landing maygcall the, elevator car even thougln-the collapsible in the car isjleft open, asthe doors on the elevator shaft arev self closingz.

I amaware that prior,to,my invention, elevator carshave been. made ,with movable platforms. 1,-therefore, do not claim such a combination broadly, but, what I claim is: 1. The combination of an electric elevator, a movable platform in the car, means to transmit the movementat any pointoverthe entire movable platform, anoleotriccontact opened and closed by said movable, latform, said contact being, in .parallel with the contact. on the gate in the carand in series with the-common feed wireof the,

2. The combination of a push-buttqn-operated electric elevator, a platform in the car. part of said platform being movable and located so that a person has to,;Stand on said'movable section of the platform to start the car in operation, meansrto transmit the movement at any point of the movable section over the entire section of said platform, an. electric contact operated ,by the movable section of said platform, said contact in parallel .withthe-contact on the collapsible gate in the car and in series with the common feed wire of the operating circuit.

3. The combination of an electric elevator, self closing doors on the hatchway, a movable platform in the car, levers .under the movable platform to transmit the movement at any point over the entire movable latform, an electric contact opened and c osed by said movable platform, means to retard the motion of themovable platform,-and means to raise the movableplatform to its normal position after the load on said movable platform has been removed, a contact in the car operated by the collapsible gate in the car, said contact in parallel with the contact operated by the movable platform and in series with the common feed wire of the operating circuit.

4. The combination of a push-button-operated electric elevator, self closing doors on the hatchway, contacts on said doors, said contacts in series with each other and in series with the common feed wire of the operating circuit, a movable platform in the car, levers under the car to transmit the movement at any point over the entire platform, a dashpot mechanically connected to said levers to retard the motion of the movable platform, a weight connected mechanically to said levers to raise the said movable platform after the load has been removed from the movable platform, an electric contact operated by the said movable platform and closed when there is no load on movable platform, an electric contact. operated by the collapsible gate in the car and closed when said gate is closed, the contact operated by the movable platform in parallel with the contact operated by the collapsible gate and in series with the common feed wire of the operating circuit.

5. The combination of an electric elevator, a movable platform in the car; adjustable pins on each corner of said movable platform and guides for said adjustable pins, said guides fastened to the stationary platform of the car, leather washers between the top of said guides and the movable platform, levers under the movable platform and operated by said pins, said levers connected by a, link to transmit the movement at any point of the movable platform over the entire movable platform, a weight to return said movable platform to its normal position and a dashpot to retard the motion of the movable platform and said weight.

6. In an electric push-button elevator, the combination of a substantially parallelmovement movable platform in the car, means to transmit the movement of the movable platform at any point over the entire movable platform, and an electric contact in the elevatonoperating circuit, adapted to be opened and closed by the movement of the movable platform.

7. In an electric push-button elevator, the combination of a movable platform in the car, adapted to be moved up and down relatively to the car, throughout its area to planes substantially parallel to the horizontal plane of the car and an electric contact in the operating circuit of the elevator, adapted to be opened and closed by the movement of the movable platform.

8. In an electric push-button elevator, the combination of a platform in the car, adapted to be moved substantially parallel to itself vertically relatively to the car, levers under the said platform, adapted to transmit its movement at any point over the entire platform, means to raise the said platform when its load is removed, and an electric contact in the operating circuit of the elevator, adapted to be opened and closed by the movement of the said platform.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ARTHUR C. ROTHEN BERG.

Witnesses:

G. E. DONNEWALD, H. S. KNODEL. 

